


Freedom Is Worth It

by CasualOtaku, Mishaela



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: Mild Language, Violence, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2020-10-21 14:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20694980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CasualOtaku/pseuds/CasualOtaku, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mishaela/pseuds/Mishaela
Summary: Work in progress.The Remnants are returned to their former lives free of Jenova's influence.





	1. Resurrection

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work in progress, so both the tags and the segments are subject to change as the story continues.

Freedom Is Worth It

by Mishaela and CasualOtaku

Disclaimer: The characters in this work of fanfiction belong to SquareEnix. We make no claims of ownership and there's no profit gained from this work of fiction.

  
***  
The Nawajira home had once been a school. Years before, Nawajira Harano had instructed men in the fine art of archery as only the Wutai knew well. His death had left the school in the hands of his wife, Nawajira Tomako. It also became an utter nightmare for her.  
  
In southern Wutai, many still held their traditions in a tight fist. Even today, Tomako would have been given nothing but grief for not turning over the school to one of her late husband's more promising students despite her having superior skill over them. In a twisted sort of blessing, the school was no longer an issue as she'd died in Edgetown two years earlier from Geostigma.  
  
Her son, Nawajira Yasuo, had inherited the school and surrounding property upon her death. He'd no intention of teaching the war art, either, much like his mother. His reasons, however, were different.  
  
Yasuo wasn't Harano's son. Harano had died five years before Yasuo's birth. His father was a visiting foreigner from Midgar who had been given shelter during his time in Wutai. Attempting to find him had been the sole reason Tomako had been in Edgetown. She'd contracted the deadly disease from a stranger whom she attempted to give aid. As it ran its course, Yasuo had done his best to take care of his mother in her final hours.  
  
For the moment, such things were out of his mind. His verdant gaze was focused on a series of bushes pregnant with possibilities for dinner. He'd been as still as death for more than an hour, lulling the hiding pheasant into a false sense of security. A sharp whistle startled the birds and they practically exploded out into the air.  
  
The teen swiftly pinioned two, securing enough for several meals.  
  
His accuracy, his loyalty to his mother, and his similar appearance to the world famous hero Sephiroth had collectively been part of why he'd been yanked from the Lifestream. His memories had been overwhelmed, buried under Jenova's puppetry, until he no longer recalled he'd been an actual part of the world at all. He'd been renamed 'Yazoo' and given a mission to track down the last known large source of Jenova cells while harassing Cloud Strife.  
  
Thanks to the spirit of the last Cetra, he'd been resurrected and given another chance to live.  
  
Yasuo returned to the traditional Wutai home he'd grown up in, the two birds dangling on a bit of jute rope. The town of Haido was full of traditionalists, meaning he didn't often leave and he certainly made no effort to interact with them. Growing up before the Wutai War had given him all the contact he'd ever wanted. As a child, the traditionalists hadn't been kind. Their children had often bullied and beat Yasuo because of his green eyes and lighter colored hair.  
  
The youth, however, had plans and his former home was merely a staging ground in said plans. Within a week, the new owners of the property would be arriving to take possession and they would be paying Yasuo an obscene amount of gil to do it. The extremely wealthy family from Costa del Sol had wanted someplace quaint and quiet with mild winters. So, rather than sell the former school for next to nothing, the teen was going to become suddenly wealthy and take a little revenge on his neighbors at the same time.  
  
This wealthy family would also be bringing him a golden chocobo, which was necessary for Yasuo's plans.  
  
Coming into the property from the hidden back entrance, Yasuo heard loud banging on the front gate. He rolled his eyes and set the birds down on the kitchen work table. The teen strode across the grounds swiftly and, when he reached the gate, he threw the iron bar quickly so he could open the door midway into the next set of loud knocks.  
  
"There's a bell," he told the trio of young men that stood on the other side, his green eyes regarding them suspiciously.  
  
The tallest of them was recognized instantly. As a child, he'd been one of Yasuo's worst tormentors. A subtle sneer of disgust found Yasuo's face. "What do you want?"  
  
"We told you not to come back, half-breed." Yamado Ken hadn't changed during his absence. He was still a bigoted prick.  
  
"I don't plan on staying. You'll be getting new neighbors soon," Yasuo replied in his soft spoken voice.  
  
No longer the small boy they'd abused, the teen looked at the leader of the three evenly. He wasn't rail thin as he'd been then, either. As a Remnant, his body had been remade for more muscle mass, though lean like a greyhound, and his skeletal structure had been strengthened to accommodate it.  
  
These three were no longer of concern.  
  
That didn't seem to satisfy Ken. "I told you not to come back. I don't care if you're leaving again, Nawajira."  
  
Yasuo's head tilted just slightly, an insolent gesture to be certain. "Even when you could beat the hell out of me, I didn't listen to you," he said in calm tones, though there was an edge of steel to his words. "I'm not going to start now. Get off my property."  
  
And that was all it took to pick a fight out of the former bully. The fist flew, but Ken was untrained and undisciplined. Yasuo easily caught it against his palm, his fingers all folding over the hand to hold it in place. It remained as it was despite Ken's attempts to pull his arm back.  
  
"Get off my property or you'll be sucking rice porridge up through a reed straw," Yasuo warned. "I'm a Nawajira archer. All three of you work in the lotus paddies. You're outclassed even if I'm only half-Wutai."  
  
Ken was shoved back into the middle of the dirt footpath, his two friends splitting away as he tumbled to the ground. "Bastard!"  
  
"Yes, I am," was all Yasuo said in response before he shut the gate once again, sliding the bar home to lock it once more.  
  
***  
On his way from Wutai, Yasuo had stopped in Rocket Town. The scientists and machinists had taken an interest in him as very few of the natives left their country willingly. Two of them, a pair of siblings, decided they would craft him a new bow since the traditional ones were large and often hard to carry spur of the moment. They'd borrowed his shinobi bow to create one of similar size but packing more power on release.

His familiarity with the shortbow had allowed him to get a handle on how to be accurate with it quite quickly. The arms had been ground from lightweight aluminum firmly bolted into a center piece of steel. They'd also, at his request, put in slots for materia.

This had puzzled them at first considering the rest of the world was now avoiding using the crystals to try to keep Geostigma at bay. While they worked, he'd spent time acquiring less conspicuous clothing and talking with one of their researchers. Rather than keep Wutai history as some kind of secret, Yasuo had shared some of the things that had made the country what it had become before the war. He'd told some of their fables and mythology to be documented for future generations. His countrymen might not have agreed, but hiding behind tradition now, when the world needed to come together, was ridiculous in his eyes.

Nibelheim had been his next stop and one of the more important ones along the way. This was where Jenova had been hidden and a significant amount of the parasite's cells were still in the area. However, Yasuo's new mission was different than it had been when he was a Remnant.

His new goal was destruction of those cells. With magical fire. A lot of magical fire.

The small town had changed since the burning six years before. When the money from Shinra had stopped coming, more than a handful of the actors who had been in residence had decided to move elsewhere. Some, however, had elected to stay. They had homes, they had food, and they had stability. None of these were options for the ones who'd lived in Midgar before Meteor. Edgetown was still rebuilding, though quickly, and required planning to ensure there was a home to move into on arrival.

Getting a room at the small hotel had been the easy part. Yasuo didn't need the extra beds that had come with it, but he was also the only person in the rooms at all, so it had come cheaper than initially expected. Being sixteen, most took him for being at least close to a legal adult and being from Wutai, they knew better than to ask for any kind of identification.

Sunglasses procured in Rocket Town kept anyone from seeing the single feature he'd had leftover from his time as a Remnant: his slit-pupil eyes. They were still green, for which he was thankful, because he wasn't ashamed of his dual heritage and he liked his eye color. Not having silver hair anymore gave him plenty more anonymity so he couldn't be immediately picked out of a crowd if he needed to move inconspicuously. Jenova wasn't completely gone, despite Aeris' best efforts, so he wouldn't be too easy for any of the cosmic parasite's puppets to pick up on if he needed to vanish fast.

But, there was still a lot of work to do before he managed to reach Edgetown. The mountains were teeming with monsters and other brutal wildlife. Some of them escaped from the reactor years ago and others given a vicious edge due to Jenova's influence. Nibelheim had very few defenders and practically no warriors, so he would help a bit and accomplish his goals at the same time.

An hour later, Yasuo ran along the mountain path, kicking up dust and small bits of rock as he swiftly chased a fleeing zuu. He'd wounded it, putting an arrow into one of the wings, and the beast's attempt to fly away had caused the hole to expand. This forced the avian to move along the ground, but it was a large bird with long legs and a hell of a hop.

The zuu was a heavily infected 'sleeper' of cells. Jenova was trying to rebuild itself. Yasuo knew well what that meant for himself, the other people in the world, and even the world itself. Jenova's many millenia of travel would end on this planet and Yasuo was fully ready to give his last gasp to make it happen.  
  
He lost sight of the zuu and skidded to a stop, casting his green gaze around to see if any stray feathers could give him clues to where the beast had gone. Above his head, he heard a squawk and looked up in time to see the deadly claws bearing down on him. The teen threw himself to the side in a shoulder roll, escaping the attack at the last moment.  
  
One of the green stones in his new bow started to glow and then his left hand rose, a condensed flame against Yasuo's gloved palm. His hand shoved forward, throwing that fire out at the overly large bird. There was a grim kind of satisfaction on his face as some of the feathers went aflame, the fire quickly moving to others nearby and gaining speed to consume the beast. It took less than ten seconds for the beast to fall over, dead to be sure, but Yasuo wanted more than just a burned corpse.   
  
"I'm coming for you... Mother," he said with as much contempt in his soft voice as he could manage. His hand rose once more, another fire spell ready to unleash, and he threw the flames on the zuu once again to reduce it to naught but char, effectively destroying the Jenova cells that had infected the creature.  
  
Yasuo had given careful consideration about Jenova while he'd been preparing to depart Wutai. Jenova could travel the void of space, surviving the extreme cold that came with it as well as the heat of entry into planetary atmospheres. However, Aeris had shown that the power of the Lifestream could conceivably destroy the cells. Materia was made from the Lifestream. Thus, for a creature that seemed to have no weaknesses, it was apparently vulnerable to applied magic.  
  
The teen's real mother had taught him to use every edge in a war. He was now significantly wealthy. He could buy a lot of unwanted materia along the way to achieve his endgame.

  
***  
Continued in Chapter 2: Reconnaissance


	2. Reconnaissance

***  
Being told by the locals that the old mansion on the edge of town had been Shinra's and it was infested with monsters didn't deter Yasuo from investigating it. That made him more interested and eager, in fact. The door hadn't even been locked against intruders when he'd marched himself to the building. Someone had either forgotten to do so, had been in a hurry, or had counted on the reputation to keep people out.  
  
Yasuo stepped in and took note of all the dust and debris. The place was abandoned, but not completely for the most part. Footprints marred the dust on the floor, though even those were old now.  
  
The creatures that infested the place weren't much of a challenge, either.  
  
Tracking the dusty footprints led Yasuo to a secret door and down some stairs. He liked secrets. They gave him useful information.  
  
At the bottom, the teen wasn't disappointed in the slightest. He found the empty coffin concerning, but put it out of his mind when he reached the old research room at the end of the hall. This was what he'd been hoping for. A wealth of information about Shinra's old activities.  
  
When he discovered the majority of it was about Jenova, the youth was even more eager to sit and read it all.  
  
Dragging a chair down between the bookcases, the teen simply sat and looked at everything as he took it all in. Not everything was printed documentation. Some of it was handwritten journals that had come from Professor Hojo himself.  
  
"We'll start with you," Yasuo said, his long fingers pulling out the first book to his left. The cover creaked slightly as he opened it and then the teen was all but devouring the pages with his eyes.  
  
Jenova had crashed into the planet more than two thousand years before, leaving a gaping welt of a crater in the north. Yasuo remembered that he and the other two Remnants had originated from there after their first rebirth. The parasite had given them a Reunion directive to seek out the last pure form of cells. This had been done with the intention to recreate the body of its most powerful puppet.  
  
Also among the notes were details about Sephiroth's conception and prenatal development. Leucretia Crescent had been injected with Jenova cells before conception. Those cells multiplied in her and spread to the fetus developing in her body.  
  
After reading one of the handwritten journals, Yasuo realized that the child had been conceived with Hojo's genetic input as well. Given the erratic nature of the man's free notes, that caused the teen to wince inwardly. There was something seriously messed up about that guy. As in, a very creepy kind of messed up.  
  
It became bluntly obvious that Hojo was obsessed with Jenova, giving Yasuo a rather clear indication that the man had been infected. However, rather than be part of the Reunion like everyone else, Jenova was directing him more subtly. Injecting the cells into Doctor Crescent had likely been the creature's idea as a means to develop the best weapon for it to use in reaching its next big meal.  
  
Every Wutai child had learned about Sephiroth after the war. While he'd been the enemy, he'd been honorable in battle. The people of the small country may not have liked him, but he was afforded a grudging respect because of that alone.  
  
The notes and journals all pertained to both Jenova and Sephiroth. Yasuo realized that the man was a victim, like himself, but not just of Jenova. He'd also been Shinra's victim. A biological weapon of a different nature, that had been nothing more than a specimen during his early life. A being raised to be subjugated by the very people who had pretended to cater to him.  
  
That was disgusting.   
  
After Sephiroth's birth, everything was strictly regulated. He'd never been given a chance to really be a child, to learn how to interact with the world naturally on his own. No wonder the man had been overtaken by Jenova's control.  
  
***  
It took the teen a few weeks to read through everything. When his eyes grew tired from the sheer number of books and journals, he would take a break by watching various bits of video footage. Much of the information was false documentation on the part of Hojo trying to cover up what Jenova truly was so Shinra continued to fund the research, however he wasn't the only researcher to make notations on things.  
  
Yasuo discovered some information that hadn't come from the Shinra research team at all. Hidden in a locked box at the back of a drawer in one of the assistant researcher's desks was a journal and video files that had been compiled by a Professor Gast. As he started reading, Yasuo realized that this was what he'd been hoping to discover. This was where the real knowledge had been.  
  
Jenova, despite all of Hojo's carefully constructed bullshit, wasn't a Cetra at all as he'd wanted the others to believe. Jenova was a world-destroying parasite that fed on DNA and could use the memories of its victims as a means of luring in still more victims. In fact, that was how the creature had destroyed very nearly all the Cetra that had been on the planet thousands of years ago.  
  
Once it had fed on all it could, it would initiate a global disaster using its most powerful puppet and then travel through space to the next world. There, the cycle would begin again as plant life and wild life would feast on the corpse left behind to begin anew. Over and over for thousands of years, destroying both planets and solar systems along the way.  
  
Yasuo had already known first-hand that Jenova could create puppets from its cells, mimicking the creatures that it had already devoured in the past, and it would use those to feed itself more genetic material. The shadow hounds that all the Remnants had been able to summon were once creatures from another world that Jenova had previously fed on. Combining their vicious nature with wild fangs had given them faster mobility, making them far more dangerous.  
  
The new information combined with what he'd already known had Yasuo sitting back in his chair, blinking, as he gave things more contemplation.  
  
From his experience and the notes from Professor Gast, Jenova seemed to have two methods of controlling the puppets it didn't wholly create - completely overwhelm them or override them just enough that they would slavishly do its bidding. It was also cunning and able to imitate those who it copied, which was how it was able to destroy the Cetra. The Remnants had been made from souls in the Lifestream, people who had died from the Geostigma infection. The cells from the infection had absorbed enough DNA and memories that recreating the forms, while subjugating them to its will, wouldn't have been very difficult.  
  
The Lifestream had been able to interrupt Jenova's ability to control the Remnants, albeit briefly through cellular destruction, which was why they had instinctively tried to get away from it. When they couldn't get away from it, Jenova had commanded them to use the materia to self-destruct before they'd been utterly destroyed or otherwise lost. The creature had wanted the biggest thorn in its side out of the way - Cloud Strife.  
  
However, if the two of them hadn't gone out like that, the rain that had been spilling down around them could very well have set them free of control... or disintegrated them both into nothingness, but Yasuo wasn't sure which.  
  
One of the things that Yasuo knew was that the recreation of Sephiroth which had overtaken Kadaj wasn't the real Sephiroth. He remembered that Sephiroth had been trapped in a crystal formation of materia, which left Jenova operating only with a series of copies of him each subsequently destroyed by Cloud and his friends which had cost the parasite a substantial amount of cells per copy. It was Jenova, taking the man's memories of his own life, and using them to fake out everyone. Sephiroth had a distinctive look and his ability was unequaled by anyone in the world. With all the elite members of SOLDIER being infected by Jenova, that meant that no one should have been able to surpass the copy Jenova had made.  
  
Except Cloud hadn't been SOLDIER, he'd been a grunt in the Shinra military who had attacked Sephiroth out of sheer desperation to avenge his hometown. Later, his fighting skills had been acquired second hand. By the same token, the copy of Sephiroth had second hand skills, too. Being a warrior was more than simply learned skill. It also involved muscle memory developed from training, which Jenova wouldn't have had. However, Cloud had been using the skills inherited and made them his own.  
  
This meant that every instance of Sephiroth's appearance outside of Nibelheim after his alleged death hadn't been him at all. It had been the copy moving around, putting the blame on Sephiroth, because everyone knew who he was and could recognize him on sight. This left everyone chasing a ghost, so to speak, while Jenova had tried to work behind the scenes through Hojo.  
  
Then, Jenova thought it had prepared enough but it underestimated Cloud's determination. His mako poisoning had made him all but impossible to control until he got to the North Crater. When it finally could usurp control, it had Cloud put the Black Materia inside the crystal surrounding Sephiroth. This secured it from anyone who could have stolen it back and, because of the Cetra memories, allowed Jenova to activate it without contact, calling down the comet that almost destroyed the planet.  
  
Yasuo's curled finger went to his lips as he thought of all the implications of this new information.  
  
***  
"You know I didn't bring you back so you could throw your life away, right?"  
  
Yasuo looked up at the apparition that visited him and lowered the journal he'd been rereading. "Define 'throw your life away' for me."  
  
"I'd say revenge is a close approximation," Aeris answered, giving him a faint, if sad, smile.  
  
"Then I can honestly say I'm not throwing my life away," the teen replied. "I'm not after revenge."  
  
He paused for a bit of effect, the corner of his mouth quirking up a fraction. "Well, maybe a little revenge. Just a little," Yasuo said and held his fingers apart just slightly.  
  
"I sent you home to take back your life, Yasuo."  
  
He shook his head. "Wutai was my birthplace, but it was never home. That was one of the reasons mother took me to Edgetown. She'd hoped I could find a home with my father."  
  
"And your shinobi training?" Aeris asked.  
  
"She'd wanted me to feel a connection to my Wutai blood and people. Not being allowed to fight, however, left me vulnerable to purists. To put it simply: The people of my old village are assholes." Yasuo leaned back in the chair. "Regardless, I'm a shinobi warrior. Conflict is the nature of my existence. As long as Jenova exists, we're all still in danger. That parasite can't be allowed to rebuild itself."  
  
"I was afraid you'd say something like that."  
  
Yasuo smiled a little more firmly, one eyebrow rising. "Zack didn't warn you?" he asked.  
  
Aeris sighed. "He did, but hope springs eternal."  
  
"Please, don't worry. Unlike my time as a Remnant, I'm not reckless out of desperation. Before any kind of attack, you gather information and you plan. I'm not going in blind nor will I go in hotheaded," the young man assured Aeris.  
  
She nodded, sighing once more.  
  
"I won't get killed. Jenova only got me the first time around because of Geostigma. I won't make the mistake of getting infected again."  
  
***  
Continued in Re-Introductions


	3. Re-Introductions

Objectively, Koji knew he didn’t have to live in an old shipping container. As an orphaned teenager he would have been considered a high priority to get either a cubee or placement in a halfway house. It didn’t feel right to seek out either. Not when he’d come back with all the skills he’d had as a Remnant and could easily fend for himself.

It wasn’t all that different from his past life honestly. He’d always been poor and a bit of a troublemaker to boot. It had been just him and his mother for most of his memories, drifting from place to place trying to find somewhere to settle down. He wasn’t certain he ever really had a place that he could call his before the container.

In fact, he liked to think he’d made it pretty damned homey considering what he had to work with. So what if his little futon was a hideous shade of olive drab that had somehow ended up splattered in salmon pink paint? That was nothing an old military surplus blanket couldn’t mostly cover up. It was still comfortable.

And sure he didn’t have any plumbing, but he had a camp shower, three dish pans, and access to clean water. Bathroom breaks could be handled by visiting any construction site with portable restrooms or by indulging a cheap cup of coffee at any cafe. It wasn’t as if he had to wallow in his own filth. 

He even had a window of sorts. Sure it contained greased paper instead of glass, but it was still a window. 

Oh, who was he kidding? HIs ‘home’ was a hovel, but it was _his_ hovel and he was going to do what he could to make it better. With any luck he could find a composting toilet or a solar powered well pump on this particular ruin dive. It was never fun having to lug water back home. Or, if nothing else, maybe some old carpet and pillows so he could start stockpiling before winter.

For the most part, Koji had been fairly lucky during his dives into the Midgar ruins. There were still a few monsters that had been riled up during the destruction, but oft-times those could be fairly easily avoided. The worst element, however, was that a few groups of the displaced citizens of Midgar had elected to prey on their fellows rather than simply move into Edgetown. Making a target of weaker people was easier and a lone teen scavenging from the ruins was quick pickings.

"That's quite the haul," a disembodied voice said before the speaker came around the wreckage of what had once been an upper plate shop. "We can help lighten that load for you, kid."

The rough-looking figure appeared to have not bathed in the last few days. He, and his friends, were also wearing the colors of what used to be the Sector Five gang that had operated in the slums of Midgar.

Koji rolled his eyes. "Seriously? An entire city's worth of ruins you could go through and your answer is to pick on me for a camp sink and blankets?"

"We could find a use for those, right, boys?" the man asked, looking over his shoulder at his companions.

One of them snickered. "Sure can, boss."

"Get your own," Koji said. "I didn't fight my way through the train graveyard for some no account thugs to steal my shit."

"No account thugs? You think you-"

Words became moot as something flashed down before Koji to stick into the ground just in front of him, quivering from the force of the throw. The next flash was an arrow that stuck into the ground in front of the gang leader. "You might have us outnumbered, but we have you outclassed," a voice from above said. "You've got five seconds to make your choice."

Koji smiled as he took the handle of the dual-bladed sword and pulled it from the ground. "Well hello there, old friend."

"He's just another kid," one of the men said as he spied Yasuo overhead.

With a smirk, Yasuo nocked another arrow and pointed it at the gang leader. "You'll die first. Is it worth it?"

The man growled before he flashed forward, moving far too quickly for a normal human.

Koji sidestepped the attack and made a tsking sound. "Haste materia?"

The man snarled and aimed blow after blow at the teen, growing more and more frustrated when each one was deflected. 

"If this is you sped up I'd hate to see you at normal speed," Koji drawled. "I've seen senior citizens faster than you."

"Are you really going screw around only to play with him?" Yasuo asked while turning the thug's immediate underling into an arrow-horned unicorn.

"You're no fun sometimes, brother," Koji said before he leapt nimbly over the leader's desperate charge and spun gracefully on the ball of his foot as the man turned to try again. One quick swipe was all it took to separate the man's head from his body, which collapsed into a twitching, oozing, heap. 

"Well. That's not good," Koji murmured.

"That's what I was afraid of," Yasuo sighed, putting down the last three members of the group with a trio of successive shots.

Koji swung his blade to rid it of the ichor staining the otherwise pristine steel. "I'm going to guess it's too much to hope that I'm misreading the situation here."

"If your read says 'Jenova's rebuilding itself' then it's the right one." Yasuo jumped onto a large, angled pipeline to slide down where he and Koji were on even ground. "I came directly here from Nibelheim. It was the same there."

He turned and accessed his fire materia, setting the bodies aflame to kill the parasite cells.

"How?" Koji asked. "She should have died with me. I had the very last of her pure viable cells."

"Because those cells were more powerful and needed less to recreate the Sephiroth clone," Yasuo told him. "As long as there's DNA to feast on, even a single non-pure cell is enough for Jenova to rebuild."

"...fuck."

Yasuo nodded and went to kick over the former leader, leaning down to snag the haste materia that had been buried under him. "Jenova's given up on consuming the planet. It just wants to flee for the next buffet."

"How do we stop her?"

Yasuo looked over at Koji. "Jenova can withstand the frozen cold of space and the burning heat of planetary re-entry... however, it seems vulnerable to the Lifestream and magic," he said, holding up the materia orb.

The familiar expression of his slight smirk appeared before Koji's eyes. "So, I say kill it with fire."

"I'll need a proper bangle," Koji said as he reached out to take the orb. "I can't just fuse it directly into my body anymore."

"We can get you properly outfitted... if you're sure you want to come along," Yasuo replied. "I wasn't going to assume. Without my mother, I didn't have much of a life to go back to in Wutai. For all I knew, you and Loz had good lives before and I wasn't going to try to take either of you away from that if that's how it was."

"I'm living in a shipping container, Yazoo."

"Not anymore," the other teen said. "And my name is Yasuo. Yasuo Nawajira."

"Koji...and I don't remember my last name. My mother used to say it was eaten by an oni on our travels to the Western lands." Koji smiled a bit sadly. "She always had a flair for the dramatic."

Yasuo looked at the orb in his brother's fingers before shifting his verdant gaze to Koji. "Koji Nawajira it is, then," he said in his soft tones, one corner of his mouth quirking up slightly.

Koji smiled at that. "You sure you want to give me your name? I'm not that different than I was under... her."

"I only have the name by marriage, anyway. My mother's husband died five years before I was born," Yasuo told him.

He looked up and gave a shrill whistle which was answered with a loud 'wark' from the upper level.

"A chocobo?" Koji asked.

Yasuo nodded. "Part of the payment when I sold the family home."

The golden chocobo peered over the edge and then made several short hops to get to Yasuo at the bottom. With a smile, the teen reached out and stroked her under the chin. "Such a good girl."

"Nice jumps... but now we have to get back out," Koji said. "I need to lock up my container before we go."

"Golden chocobos are more capable than others of their kind. They can even run over the ocean," Yasuo said as he caught Miko's bridle.

"I thought that was a legend."

"How do you think I got here?" Yasuo asked him with a short laugh before swinging up into the saddle.

"Airship?" Koji said. "I see them making drops at least once a month."

Yasuo shook his head. "I needed to be able to get into places an airship couldn't go. Like here in the middle of the Midgar ruins and up in the mountains of Nibelheim."

Koji eyed the bird and hummed. "Is it like riding a motorcycle?"

"No," Yasuo answered and offered his hand to pull Koji up.

The younger teen took it. "Then I'm going to need lessons."

He was pulled up behind Yasuo. "Just hold on and don't barf down my back if you get motion sick."

"Aim for your face instead?" Koji teased

"I can have her buck you off," the other teen said, looking with one eye over his shoulder.

"Okay, okay....I'll be good."

"Thought so."

With that, Yasuo let out a clucking noise which the beast understood as the command to start running. Koji gasped a bit and clung to his brother. That was a lot more speed than he was expecting out of a giant chicken.

***  
Continued in Revelations


	4. Revelations - Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yasuo begins to explain to Koji some of what he's learned about Jenova as well as what he plans to do with the information over a late night meal at 7th Heaven.

"This place actually has a spot to tether Miko," Yasuo said as the pair came up near a bar in Edgetown. He slid out of the saddle and walked the chocobo over so he could secure her reins.

Koji inhaled deeply. "Mmm... I don't know what's cooking but it smells divine."

Yasuo looked up. "7th Heaven. We'll have to remember the place if it's half as good as the smells."

Koji nodded in agreement and followed Yasuo inside.

One quick glance at the woman behind the bar had Yasuo turning quickly to point to a booth in the far corner. "Over there," he murmured to his brother.

Koji blinked at the sudden change in body language, but moved to the corner as indicated. "Something wrong?"

"She was at the plaza when you called down the summon," Yasuo whispered as they got seated.

"... you think she'll recognize you?"

"I hope not," the other teen murmured in answer.

Tifa headed over and Koji put on a bright smile as she set a small bowl of nuts on their table. "Welcome to the 7th Heaven, gentlemen. Can I start you off with some drinks?"

"Hot tea if you have it," Yasuo said, doing nothing to fight his Wutai accent to help further disguise himself.

"Sure," Tifa said. "Do you want mint, chamomile, green tea, or black?"

"Green, please."

"Sure thing," Tifa said with a smile before looking to Koji. "How about you?"

"What's the drink of the day?" Koji asked.

"Rum punch," Tifa replied. "Although for you it would have to be pure punch. Unless you're a lot older than you look."

"Just punch is fine," Koji said. 

"Be right back with those," Tifa said with a smile.

Yasuo took a small handful of the nuts. "I feel like I'm walking on eggshells."

"If you want to run out I could just grab us something to go... claim you got an important text or something."

"It's fine. I'll just play up the 'fresh off the boat' act."

"Guess that makes me the proverbial tour guide."

He received a wry smile. "Sure."

"... why did I just feel a chill down my spine?"

"No clue," Yasuo replied, looking over as the woman made her way back to the table.

Tifa set down a cup and saucer as well as the pot of tea before setting Kadaj's virgin punch in front of him. "There you go boys. Did you get a chance to look at the menu?"

"Battered fish, please," Yasuo said.

"Blue plate special for me, please," Kadaj said. He had no clue what the blue plate special was, but he'd never been a picky eater. He couldn't afford to refuse any kind of food when it crossed his path.

Reaching out, Yasuo poured himself a some of the tea and brought the cup closer, holding it by the body rather than the small handle to get a sip.

Tifa hummed and tilted her head. "Forgive me, but I can't help but feel we've met before. Are you new to the area?"

The teen rose and bowed. "Nawajira Yasuo," he said. "I've recently come from Wutai."

Tifa smiled and bowed in return. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Tifa Lockheart."

"My mother and I were here a year ago looking for my father," Yasuo explained. "Unfortunately, she contracted Geostigma. She... didn't make it."

"Oh! I-I'm so sorry," Tifa said. "My condolences."

"Thank you," the youth said softly, bowing again.

"You're...brothers I take it?" Tifa asked, glancing at Kadaj who was fishing the cherry out of his drink.

"We are now," Yasuo told her, flicking his eyes at Koji himself and giving a faint smile.

Koji smiled back. "The punch is really good, miss."

Tifa chuckled. "Thank you. I was lucky enough to get a hold of several cans of pineapple juice. This seemed like a good way to extend it. I should go get started on your meals though. I like to fry my fish fresh when you order it."

"I appreciate it. Thank you again, Miss Lockheart," Yasuo said and sat back down to sip at his tea.

Koji watched her go before he ate his cherry. "You're good."

"What do you mean?"

Koji gave him a dry look. "Fresh off the boat."

"Well, I am newly arrived to Edgetown. She simply doesn't need to know I spent almost a month in Nibelheim and half as long in Rocket Town before I got here."

Koji just hummed and took a sip from his glass. "I'd forgotten you can be a devil in the details sort."

"I spent a lot of time researching in Nibelheim. I found out more about Jenova so that we can, hopefully, use to take it out for good."

"Like using magical fire on the remains of her victims?"

"Yes," Yasuo said with a nod. "Also that Jenova acts through multiple puppets. It can control a large number of them at any given time."

"Which is going to make this one hell of a challenge."

Yasuo nodded before sipping from his cup again. "Reading the material also led me to a conclusion that some people won't find popular."

"You may as well hit me with it now," Koji said.

"Sephiroth is Jenova's prisoner," the elder between them said, his voice as serious as cardiac arrest.

"You think he's still alive?"

"Yes," Yasuo answered. "If Jenova does manage to send this planet off on its next journey, he's going to be the source for its revival at the destination. He's in suspended animation, so he'll survive the thousands of years it takes to reach the next planet... still, the materia won't protect him from the impact. His body carries pure cells. The cycle will start again and, so long as Jenova has him, it's hell-bent for planetary destruction."

"So what do we do? We can't just chuck him in the Lifestream again. That's what caused Geostigma."

"That wasn't just him. All the former SOLDIER 1sts had also been infected by Hojo. They contributed to Geostigma," Yasuo explained. "He's currently encased in solidified Lifestream. Jenova can't get to him and it can't use him, either. Given what I know about Sephiroth and his prowess, there's no way that anyone could have beaten him. Not even Cloud."

He refilled his cup of tea and looked at Koji. "Nibelheim was an origin point. A beginning for Jenova to place all the blame on Sephiroth. He was famous. Everyone knew his name and appearance, even if they hated him. Even if they'd lived under a rock since birth. Who better to make the glaring distraction while the puppets work behind the scenes?"

"Fair enough... but that just means he's best left alone. As long as he's locked away he can't be a weapon."

"Leaving him alone plays into Jenova's plans. If we leave him there, he's a boxed lunch for the next planet, Koji. He's also in the North Crater, surrounded by Lifestream because of the constant eruption. By now, I'd imagine he's absorbed enough Mako that it'll be years before Jenova could do anything to him again."

"...oh. Oh no," Koji said as he suddenly realized Yasuo's intent. "You want to go back."

"I have to go back. There's still loose cells there. Not pure, no, but enough to allow that... thing to rebuild itself. Jenova took my mother from me and it wants to destroy this planet. I'll scour away every last cell with my bare hands if I have to," Yasuo said with a fierce look.

"You know we should probably figure out a way to talk to Aeris or somebody that can help make this efficient. Otherwise she'll make new puppets as fast as we take them out."

"She already knows," Yasuo told him. "She chided me for trying to 'throw my life away.'"

Koji blinked. "Well... so much for help from below."

"Zack has my back."

Koji chuckled. "That must make for some interesting conversations around the proverbial dinner table."

"Maybe," Yasuo chuckled.

"So how precisely do you plan to clean out the ruins?" Kadaj asked.

"At this point, Jenova wants me dead. I just have to go in and they come to me eventually."

"Been making that much of a nuisance of yourself have you?" Kadaj asked with a laugh.

Yasuo gave his brother a familiar cocky smirk. "You've no idea."

"What about--" Kadaj began only to pause as Tifa headed over with their food.

"Here you go guys. One fish and chips and one blue plate special," Tifa said as she sat down the plates. "Did either of you need a top off on your drinks?"

The older teen checked the pot of hot water. "I think I have enough," he said in answer.

"I wouldn't mind a glass of ice water," Koji said. "Thank you."

"Alright. Just give a shout if you need anything," Tifa said before she headed off again.

Yasuo broke off a bit of fish and blew on it to cool it down.

"Wow...that was a pretty hefty crunch for battered fish," Koji said before taking a bite of his mashed potatoes. "Oh. My. God. What was I eating before now? I didn't know potatoes came this fluffy and creamy."

"That's because they're not instant," Yasuo told him.

"I've had real potatoes before. They were thick and sticky like glue."

"Someone didn't know what they were doing."

Koji began wolfing down the generous portion of potatoes, devouring half of them before he turned his attention to the meatloaf which was delightful in its own way. He didn't know if it was skill or hunger, but even in its simplicity the meal was one of the best he'd had.

"It's more satisfying if you eat slowly," the elder teen said.

Koji looked up and blinked a few times, his cheeks stuffed like a muu. Tifa padded over and set down the glass of ice water as requested, along with a small bowl containing a couple wedges of lemon and lime. "Here you go: one glass of ice water. Be sure you save room for dessert. I got a hold of some fresh fruit that's just perfect for parfaits."

Yasuo glanced up at her and nodded. "Thank you."

"No problem," she said with a sweet smile. "I'll check back up on you in a little bit."

The teen nodded and waited for her to depart once again. "We have to stop Jenova. It's created too many victims. Given time, it'll do it again. It still has the Black Materia. Once it's amassed enough cells..." Yasuo let the words trail off, knowing Koji would follow the train of thought on his own.

"Guess that means I need to make a nuisance of myself as well," Koji said. "Think we should bring in Loz?"

"How? Like us, he had no memories from before. I found you completely by accident," Yasuo pointed out.

"Oh... I thought maybe you'd figured out a way to track on me. Not that I was hiding or anything. I was just trying to stay out of the way."

Yasuo shook his head. "No, it was chance. I had no idea where you had come from, so I had no way to search for either of you. I'd fully planned to do this crusade solo."

"I'm starting to see where Aeris was coming from," Kadaj said. "But... you've always been a determined thing."

"Blame it on my shinobi upbringing," Yasuo said. "Mom wanted me to choose a cover that wasn't archery related. I went for cooking. People need to eat all over the world."

"Case in point?" Kadaj asked as he forced himself to take a bit of the broccoli only to let out a surprised sound when he found it tender and flavorful. "Hey... she made the green stuff taste pretty good."

Shaking his head, Yasuo couldn't help but chuckle.

***

Continued in Revelations - Part 2


End file.
